Cardinal Of The Week: Preseason Week Three

Welcome to the Cardinal of the Week poll for the third preseason game. Even though the Cardinals lost, much like with last week the Cardinals starters left the game with a lead and plenty of people were making big plays for big red.

Now for some issues with last weeks poll.... Darnell Dockett and Rob Housler wound up being tied for first in the poll with 29% of the vote each (60 votes for each of them) and O'Brien Schofield was the next closest with 25% of the vote. This is part of why I want to get this poll on the main page for a few days because of how much content we are pumping out now at RotB, and for this one I'll act as the tiebreaker vote. I actually voted for Schofield after the game last week, but I'll give Dockett the win here.

We have been waiting for a while to see Kolb lead the first team offense to a Touchdown, and he found a nice way to do it. Kolb audibled in the no huddle offense to a play that wound up being a perfectly thrown bomb to Larry Fitzgerald for an 80 yard score. Kolb actually got off to a slow start completing only two of his first eight passes but after that he completed nine of his next 12 and looked like he was starting to get into a grove. From watching the game, it was obvious that Kolb hasn't been here very long and he still needs to get used to playing in this offense, but once he starts to get everything down he could do some great things in this offense.

Larry Fitzgerald: 3 catches, 108 yards, Touchdown

Larry got into the action on the first play on a beautiful strike from Kolb where he wound up evading some defenders for a 19 yard gain, then a little bit later Fitz wound up getting some of what he hopes will happen a lot this season after the Kolb trade with the 80 yard bomb that he scored on. Kolb was also targeting Fitz a lot during the game, so once these two start to get their chemistry down expect to see some monster games from Fitz.

Patrick Peterson: Tackle, Interception, Pass Deflection, Touchdown, two Punt returns for 23 yards

We have been waiting to see some of what made Peterson the fifth overall pick in the draft (and according to some of the experts, the best overall player in the draft), and last night he showed it. First, Peterson came close to breaking a big one on his first Punt return where he wound up gaining 23 yards and he looked very explosive on the play. Then a little bit later he picked off Phillip Rivers and and returned it for a Touchdown. Some people said that Peterson made a mistake in coverage on that play and the guy that he was supposed to be covering got past him, but it was still good to see him make a play on the ball. Hopefully he can get his hands on some more passes during the regular season.

Beanie Wells: 10 carries for 63 yards, catch for 5 yards

With Ryan Williams out for the year, Beanie needs to step up this year and last night he wound up having what I thought was his best game of the Preseason. Beanie ran hard, picked up extra yardage, and overall he looked like the Beanie from 2009 that had a great mixture of speed and power instead of the guy from last year who didn't seem healthy for the entire season after a knee injury in the fourth Preseason game. Beanie also had a couple of good blitz pickups in pass protection which is a great thing to see from him.

David Carter: 3 tackles, pass deflection

Didn't most of us expect this guy to just be defensive line depth when he was drafted in the sixth round? Well, now it looks like we have another late round steal on our hands. Carter rotated as the Nose Tackle with Dan Williams, and some people think he actually looks better than Big Dan. Carter was holding his own as the Nose when he was in and he appeared to do a good job moving the Chargers offensive linemen he was engaged with back and putting pressure on Phillip Rivers. Another solid game from someone who has looked good throughout Training Camp and the Preseason.

Some people who were also considered for the poll were LaRod Stephens-Howling, Richard Bartel, and A.J. Jefferson.